The invention herein described relates to a method to provide improved safety to agronomically important plants by the combination of the use of genetically imparted resistance to said plants with the use of a chemical antidote applied either to the seed of said plants or mixed with the herbicide prior to application.
A method for the production of plants, plant tissue and plant seed which contain an altered acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS) enzyme is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,373. Plants, plant tissue and plant seeds bred to include a gene encoded with an altered AHAS enzyme also demonstrate resistance to inhibition by an herbicide at concentrations which normally inhibit the growth and development of said plants, plant tissue and plant seed.
A method to protect susceptible plants and plant seed (those without a resistance gene) is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,649, wherein a chemical antidote, 1,8-naphthalic anhydride, .alpha.-(cyano-methoxyimino)benzacetonitrile or N,N-diallyl-2,2-dichloroacetamide is used to protect cereal crops from injury caused by the application of certain sulfonyl-urea herbicides. U.S. Pat. No. 3,564,768, U.S. Pat. No. 3,749,566 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,466 disclose the use of 1,8-naphthalic anhydride as a safeners for corn, rice, wheat and grain sorghum, respectively, against injury from herbicides such as butylate, alachlor and molinate. U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,031 describes the use of quinoline derivatives such as butyl [(5-chloro-8-quinolyl)oxy]acetate as safeners for protecting cereal crops from the harmful effects of certain imidazolinone herbicides.
Now it has been discovered that the combination of introduced genetic herbicide resistance with the use of a chemical safener provides significantly enhanced protection in those cases where said genetic resistance or use of a chemical safener alone do not provide sufficient protection.